Dismantling green colonialism: the Arab world experience

On the 26th of September 2024, we had the pleasure of hosting a discussion with Dr Hamza Hamouchene who, together with Katie Sandwell, co-edited a book titled Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region. Joining the discussion was PhD candidate Razaz Basheir who co-authored one of the thirteen chapters in this book. Overall, the book critically examines questions of climate justice and the just energy transition in a region that, within the context of global energy trade, is not only located in a prime position but also hosts significant green energy resources reserves. Both these factors have opened the region up for increased exploitation and greater alignment of environmental politics in the Arab region are aligned with the interests of the rich and powerful. Across the region, this alignment has manifested in (i) a push for privatisation, and (ii) a push for the financialisation of nature.

The book examines how the just transition narrative is deployed in the region, through a discussion of several renewable energy projects. Consequently, one of the book’s significant contributions is that it demystifies and challenges the just transition narrative and related solutions. This is done by highlighting how the green economy and just transition dynamics are similar to established extractivist dynamics, despite being embedded in the discourse of sustainable development. Dr Hamouchene further argues that both the green economy and current pursuits of the just transition are also underpinned by the paradigm of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ as what has changed is the source of energy, not the energy system itself. This is illustrated throughout the book wherein the various cases illustrate how colonial patterns of domination, oppression, and dispossession are enforced under a ‘green’ banner. This impact is exacerbated by, firstly, the guarantee of profits for the private sector through the establishment of projects as public-private partnerships (PPPs) even where the state lacks the capacity, and (ii) the export orientation of many of the region’s green energy projects, which serves to either secure energy for the global North or aids them in achieving their energy targets.

Whilst the book illustrates the global bias in the distribution and consumption of green energy, several chapters in the book illustrate the dynamics of this bias at a regional and urban scale. For example, the chapter by Razaz Basheir and Mohammed Salah Abdelrahman’s discusses this bias in Sudan and the solutions that have been put forward by various institutions, most notably the World Bank, to resolve the electricity crisis in the country. These ‘quick’, technical solutions give rise to a paradox; the process of reducing carbon emissions by increasing renewable energy production creates or further scars sacrifice zones. These are areas in which mining, fossil fuel extraction, and agri-businesses have left desolate following the displacement of the original residents. Consequently, additional dependencies are created at various spatial scales in addition to deepening the ecological crisis and several other crises (e.g. food insecurity and water poverty) that it is entangled with.

A strong critique of these extraction practices embedded within long histories of extraction and reflect continuities with fossil fuel is offered in the book. This critique is grounded in citizens’ voices, for using renewable energy projects to ‘greenwash’ colonialism. It is these voices that the contributors use to highlight the potential that exists to dismantle green colonialism from the bottom up through local, situated alternatives. Thus, we return to the idea that for the energy transition to be just, it must be rooted in the struggles of ordinary people. This according to the books co-editors, is the cornerstone of efforts to dismantle green colonialism.